("DAZZLE")
When my previous two Dals started showing very visible signs of senility, I had already moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida from Manhattan. Emotionally, I already had anticipated getting a puppy to help me through losing them. Not knowing any Dalmatian people in Florida, I decided to locate a good breeder
with nice dogs by going to the Florida dogshows (not one of which I had been to in my whole life. Months
carrollweiss@yahoo.com
Having now attended so many dogshows, I was very excited by this whole new world revealed to me...so much so that I told Susan I wanted the pick male in the litter and that I would take lessons to handle him properly in the showring. The litter was 12 puppies and when I drove to see them at six weeks of age, the babies greeted me by swarming all over with puppy kisses and furiously wagging tails. But youth being what it is, their attention span soon dwindled and off they all went to investigate holes and insects and tufts of grass. Dazzle, however, did not leave me. He never gave his littermates a second glance but stayed with me with very obvious insistence to cuddle in my arms. It's a good thing he was pick male because, had he not been, I would have unquestionably turned my back on all the others.
Dazzle was named because that's exactly what he did, and does, to every human who he meets...he dazzles us with his personality and temperament. He's probably the worst watchdog I've ever owned because he deliriously loves every human being he comes in contact with. As one of the largest Dalmatians I've ever owned, he's a "King Kong Dalmatian" yet thinks he's a Yorkie and cannot understand why we humans don't let him crawl into our laps to snuggle.
When Dazzle reached six months of age, I entered him in a very fancy and huge Boca Raton dogshow. It was a first for both of us and I was so nervous, I didn't remember my own name! Dazzle's genes, though, carried us through. He won best junior Dalmatian puppy which qualified him to compete in the next class where he won Best-of-Breed. That qualified him to compete in "Group" competition against the best Poodle, best Bulldog, etc. in the Non-Sporting Group of breeds. He won top place in that Group and we finally entered the ultimate competition of Best-in-Show. I'm afraid the disappointing ending is my fault...by that time I was so drained emotionally that I let Dazzle down and did a terrible job of handling...but it was a day that I will remember forever!
Dazzle's laryngeal paralysis (LP) became revealed the weekend of July 4th, 1999 when he was approaching 12 years of age. Previously, I had idly noticed that his bark had slowly changed and sounded as if he had asthma or laryngitis, but I didn't think anything of that especially on the part of an old dog. I had plans to drive over with both Dals to Susan's for that weekend. It had been quite some time since I had packed a valise and when Dazzle suddenly saw the bags being packed and the car being loaded, he became very excited as he always did and most dogs do under those circumstances. This time, though, his stressing-out went instantly into a frightening gasping-for-breath. He did not pass out nor did his tongue & gums turn blue, but the seizure was awful to behold as he struggled violently for every breath. When my wonderful vet examined him, he immediately diagnosed LP. He took a series of throat x-rays at different angles to rule out megaesophagus, a mimicking disorder, plus an endoscopy under anesthesia to directly examine his larynx and vocal folds which confirmed the diagnosis of LP. A subsequent blood test was negative for thyroid dysfunction but a neurological workup revealed an underlying neuropathy was the probable culprit for his LP, not thyroid dysfunction.
Luckily, the severity of Dazzle's LP had not progressed to a severity that he had to be immediately but indiscriminately rushed into tieback surgery. The Florida hurricane season was upon us and it would have been terrible if he underwent surgery and within a day or two, be faced with a major storm heading directly for us and unavoidably driving him in the car for hours so soon after the surgery in order to reach a safe haven. However, thanks to the online LP list, I was able to locate a Board-registered vet surgeon highly experienced in the arytenoid lateralization ("tieback") procedure. I kept Dazzle as stress-free and quiet as possible until November and the end of hurricane season when he underwent the tieback surgery.
From what I had learned from the wonderful LP list, the surgeon confirmed to me what subscribers have shared - namely, performing the surgery on BOTH sides ("bilaterally") and THROUGH the mouth - were to be avoided to avoid surgical sequelae very frequently caused by these two surgical methods.
Dazzle had his surgery on November 23rd, 1999 around noontime. I was able to take him home that dinnertime! He was still slightly sedated but seemed already to be benefitting from the tieback...breathing very normally with little or no panting. The surgeon had instructed me to place all bowls (food and water) on the floor and not elevate them as many do for elderly pets. Dazzle went almost immediately for the water bowl and drank normally without gagging or coughing which was a relief because I anticipated he would have some early problems as he first experienced the new sensation of water passing over the tieback area. But, no, none of that and to this day, he has never drank water other than as he normally did before the onset of the LP.
In terms of food, I kept him on soft-consistency but nutritious food like yogurt, soft boiled eggs (dogs cannot digest uncooked eggs), non-curd cottage cheese, etc. for a few days, several meals daily, as I waited for immediate tissue reactions to the tieback site of surgery to heal enough with beginning formation of scar tissue. After about 10 days, I slowly started introducing his customary canned food, diced into small sizes...not too large that would press on the tieback area as he often "wolfed" the food down without chewing, yet not too small that any could accidentally go down the tied back airway into his lungs instead of into his stomach. Again, the transition was uneventful with none of the gagging or coughing I anticipated as he resumed normal consistency food and returned to his pre-surgery regimens.
Finally, Dazzle's treats have always been raw carrots and raw celery. Knowing how celery could break with sometimes long strings left hanging, I was concerned about continuing that treat much as he adores celery, visualizing those long tendrils creating problems as he swallowed them. I questioned the surgeon who dismissed any caution and emphatically replied, "You can feed him anything!"
As of the writing of this article (Feb. 2001), it is 15 months since Dazzle had his surgery and I am happy to say, at the age of 13 years, he is a happy and carefree senior citizen. He has no idea he is that old (Dalmatians currently are being lost between 8 and 11 years) and I don't intend telling him. He has never again breathed any way except normally. The surgeon had alerted me so I would not be alarmed that he probably would pant more often and even more strenuously, but I have not observed that at all. He does experience the following regularly, some even daily, which he seems not to be bothered by and I've learned not to worry by them:
· Clearing his throat of accumulated mucus after sleeping for long periods of time;
· Infrequently coughing or clearing of his throat not during but after eating a meal;
· Infrequently vomiting up small amounts of clear mucus, or foamy if he's been
clearing his throat for a while before throwing it up.
In all this time, he's had only two episodes of prolonged, continuous gagging and coughing. In both instances, I ultimately discovered he had eaten grass and one blade had affixed itself to the area of the tieback perhaps on healed stitches or scar tissue. Finally, he succeeded in dislodging them after which very foamy material was vomited up in which the blade of grass was clearly visible. The minute he was able to dislodge the foreign body in this throat and throw it up, he immediately quieted and fell into a calm restful sleep.
In retrospect, I have absolutely no regrets about the tieback once I was convinced that LP was the correct diagnosis and learned the unilateral tieback was the only solution. Compared to my unending anxiety between the time of his first breathing seizure and the day of the surgery, life now is calmer for me tangibly seeing how his breathing - despite the LP which I assume has continued to progress - is normal and healthy. More than any one single factor, I am convinced it was the research enabling me to select the most experienced and knowledgeable surgeon to perform the procedure. Dazzle, I'm convinced, is a walking example of an unusually elderly Dalmatian whose current happy existence is due to superb surgery for his laryngeal paralysis.
